|
Brief History of the U.S. Army Rangers
Humble Beginnings:
The Rangers go as far back as frontiersmen in the New World. Early settlers encountered stiff resistance from native tribes who engaged in a style of combat that was alien to the settlers. Using long-range scouting, concealment, and raids, Native Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the colonists. The settlers responded by adapting. They applied this new style of warfare against some tribes native to the northeast. Groups of colonists left the settlements and searched for raiding parties. When they returned, the colonists reported they had “ranged” or patrolled a certain distance from their homes. That led to naming these scouts Rangers. The first official Ranger unit was activated in 1670 to fight a Native American tribe under the leadership of Metocomet. The Rangers, led by Captain Bejamin Church, stopped the attacks on colonists and ended King Philip’s War in 1676.
The Civil War:
When war broke out between the Union and secessionist states, the Confederacy employed the Ranger tactics with great success. Colonel John S, Mosby organized his Rangers in Virginia. From a three-man scout unit in 1862, Mosby’s force grew to an operation of eight companies of Rangers by 1865. Mosby was heavily influenced by Francis Marion, a widely respected warrior during the Revolutionary War who developed battle tactics that found their way into the Ranger modus operandi. Mosby adopted a style of strategic operations that confused Union Officers and left them wondering where he would strike next. The Rangers fed off this confusion, forcing exhausted Federal units to pull needed troops from the front lines to reinforce several positions. Mosby selected weak targets to deal crushing blows.
Mosby’s Ranger were excellent riflemen and horsemen who understood the Virginia terrain. They were confident of their mastery of the terrain that they carried out night operations, a first for that time.
The Union’s only notable employment of Rangers was the capture of Confederate General James Longstreet’s ammunition train.
When the Civil War ended, Army Ranger units disappeared for more than 70 years.
The Second World War:
On June 19, 1942, at Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, 2,000 hand-picked volunteers led by U.S. Army Major William O. Darby endured rigorous training by British commandos. Many dropped out of training and, by the end, only 500 were left. They became the 1st Ranger Battalion. Fifty of these Rangers, along with Canadian and British regiments, took part in the August 19, 1942 raid on Dieppe on France’s northeast coast. This commando attack to test the strength of German defenses was a disaster, but later excursions were effective.
In November 1942, the Marines and the 1st Ranger Battalion went ashore at Arzeu, Algeria, and moved overland to the port of Oran, where they occupied the strategic Spanish fortress at the northern tip of the harbor.
They carried out critical night operations in Tunisia and participated in the Battle of El Guettar. On March 31, 1943, the 1st Ranger Battalion led the drive by General George S. Patton Jr. to capture the heights of El Guettar with a 12-mile night march across mountainous terrain. The strategy surprised enemy positions from the rear. By dawn, the Rangers swooped down on stunned Italian fascist and cleared the El Guettar Pass with the capture of 200 prisoners. For this action, the 1st Ranger Battalion won its first Presidential Citation-the equivalent of awarding each man the Distinguish Service Cross.
Major Darby created two more battalions, the 3rd and 4th, toward the end of the campaign in Tunisia. These battalions, along with the 1st, were called “Darby’s Rangers” or Ranger Force. They led the invasion of Sicily at Gela and Licata and played a role in the taking of Messina. At Salerno they fought off eight German counterattacks for 18 days to hold the Chunzi Pass. The Rangers endured the fierce winter and mountain combat in clearing the entrance to the narrow pass leading to Cassino. At Anzio, they defeated German beach defenses and secured the town.
During the assault on Omaha Beach, Brigadier General Norman D. Cota, assistant division commander of the 29th Infantry Division, realized that the invasion force had to push past the beach or suffer severe losses. He chose the Rangers of the 5th Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel Max Schneider to make way through the over-whelming fire with the command “Rangers, lead the way off this beach!” General Cota’s order became the familiar motto, “Rangers lead the way.”
Vietnam:
In Vietnam the LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols) continued the Ranger lineage. Thirteen companies were assigned to brigades, divisions, and field units to act as eyes and ears inside land claimed by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. They worked in small groups and relied on stealth to evade enemy observation. LRRP teams also attacked the Viet Cong using surprise raids and ambushes. The LRRPs were redesignated the75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) on June 1, 1969. The LRRP/Rangers were disbanded at the end of the Vietnam War
The Iranian Crisis:
The frustrating pattern of activating and then deactivating Ranger units after a crisis finally ended in 1973. Army Chief of Staff Creighton W. Abrams called for the creation of a permanent Ranger presence in the Army. The 1st Ranger Battalion was activated on February 8, 1974, at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The 2nd Ranger Battalion was formed on October 1, 1974. The 1st Battalion established headquarters at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, while 2nd Battalion dug in at Fort Lewis, Washington.
The ill-fated attempt in 1980 to rescue American Embassy personnel held hostage by students in Teheran, Iran, was code-named Desert One. It was primarily a Special Forces Operation. It is not generally known that Rangers took part. While 1st Special Forces Operation Detachment Delta performed the actual rescue, Company C, 1st Battalion, provided security for men and equipment.
The rescue force gathered in Egypt on April 21, 1980. Three days later, several C-141s carried 120 men to Masirah Island, off coast of Oman, where they transferred to three MC-130s accompanied by three fuel-bearing EC-130s. They landed 200 miles southeast of Teheran at 2200 hours and waited eight RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters from the aircraft carrier Nimitz. A 12-man road watch team, composed of Rangers, secured the site while the helicopters refueled.
The tasked of C1/75 was to secure a landing area for the transports. The Rangers were to fly from Egypt to Manazariyeh, Iran, and secure the airfield. They were to land, if possible, or jump if there was resistance. Once the airfield was secure, the Rangers were to hold it while C-141s arrived to airlift the hostages and their rescuers back to Egypt. The Rangers were then to remove all signs of their presence, render the field useless, and be airlifted out.
Taking and securing a hostile airfield within enemy territory was one of the primary components of the Ranger mission. There were ready to hold the field for as long as necessary if there were not enough transports to take everyone out in one trip.
Desert One was aborted at the first stage when one of the helicopters developed a hydraulic problem. Later two helicopters crashed into each other on landing and killed the crew. It had been determined that at least six helicopters were necessary for the mission to succeed. The rescue attempt was canceled automatically when there were fewer than six. The C1/75 never left Egypt. The Rangers returned with the Delta special operations group.
Somalia:
The next deployment of the Rangers occurred in Somalia in 1993. Battalion 3/75 was deployed for less than two months-August 26,1993, to October 21, 1993-to assist United Nations forces to bring order to a chaotic and starving nation. The Rangers took part in seven missions in an attempt to capture fugitive strongman General Mohammed Farah Aidid and his top lieutenants. The goal was to end Aidid’s guerilla war against UN efforts to feed the Somali people.
General Aidid’s militia shot down a U.S. helicopter on September 25, 1993, killing three infantrymen. Rangers moved in after the Black Hawk was downed. Under fire from machine guns and hand and rocket propelled grenades, the Rangers grouped together and established a perimeter inside buildings to help their wounded and wait for relief. The relief column, composed of cooks and other Rangers, took heavy fire en route to their fellow Rangers.
The Rangers lost six men and had many wounded. The Somali warlord fared far worse-the Rangers and UN forces delivered lethal firepower and killed approximately 300 of his forces, and many more were wounded.
|
